The present invention is directed to a cosmetic composition (for example, a solid or liquid deodorant and/or antiperspirant composition) containing an antiperspirant active aluminum-containing material, such as an antiperspirant active aluminum-containing salt. The composition of the present invention can be used to combat body malodor, e.g., in axillary regions of the human body, by applying the composition to the human body (for example, to the skin, in axillary regions of the body).
The present invention is particularly directed to a solid or liquid antiperspirant composition containing an antiperspirant active aluminum-containing salt (for example, conventional aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum-zirconium salts), the antiperspirant active aluminum-containing salt being included in the composition in antiperspirant effective amounts. However, the present invention is not limited to solid or liquid antiperspirant compositions, including within its scope solid or liquid cosmetic compositions, including solid or liquid deodorant compositions, where, for example, the antiperspirant active aluminum-containing material is included in the composition in amounts insufficient to provide an antiperspirant effect, yet sufficient to provide a deodorant effect. The present invention is especially directed to a solid or liquid cosmetic (e.g., deodorant and/or antiperspirant) composition having the aluminum-containing active ingredient incorporated therein, which is stable even in the presence of acidic antiperspirant active aluminum-containing materials. The present composition, preferably, is translucent or clear, but need not be translucent or clear.
Antiperspirant products are well known in the art. Antiperspirant products have appeared in the marketplace in various dosage forms, such as sticks, gels, roll-ons, aerosols and creams. Generally, these dosage forms include a solution of the active ingredient in a suitable solvent, a suspension of the active ingredient in a non-solvent, or a multiphasic dispersion or emulsion in which a solution of the active ingredient is dispersed in some continuous phase or in which the solubilized active ingredient constitutes a continuous phase.
Of the above-referred-to dosage forms, the roll-on is an example of a liquid form composition, the stick form is an example of a solid form, and the gel form is a thickened form which may or may not be a solid (e.g., under some circumstances, gels can flow). The stick form can be distinguished from a gel in that, in a stick, the formulated product can maintain its shape for extended time periods outside the package, the product not losing its shape significantly (allowing for some shrinkage due to solvent evaporation). Adjustment of amounts of gelling or thickening agents such as bentones, fumed silica or polyethylene, or stearyl alcohol and castor wax, can be used in order to form a gel or stick.
Gels can be suitably packaged in containers which have the appearance of a stick, but which dispense through apertures (for example, slots or pores) on the top surface of the package. These gel products have also been called soft sticks or "smooth-ons", and hereinafter these are generically called "gels". Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,656 to Kasat, U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,897 to Orr, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,069 to Shin, each of which disclose such gels, including physical characteristics thereof such as viscosity and hardness. The contents of each of these three U.S. patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Recently, there has been significant activity in developing clear and translucent antiperspirant sticks and gels. Clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks consisting essentially of a solution of the active antiperspirant material in a polyhydric alcohol vehicle, gelled by dibenzylidene monosorbitol acetal, have been disclosed. Since the gelling agent is inherently unstable in an acidic environment, and since conventional active antiperspirant materials are acidic, much work has been involved in discovering suitable stabilizing or buffering agents to prevent or slow down acid attack on the acetal gelling agent.
Such work has not been completely successful. Moreover, these clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks, containing the acetal gelling agent and including a solubilized active antiperspirant material, have the disadvantage of being inherently tacky. Thus, development work in connection with these clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks containing the acetal gelling agent has focused on discovering suitable anti-tack agents for this dosage form. However, since acid hydrolysis of the gelling agent occurs more rapidly in aqueous solutions, formulators have been forced to avoid using water in the formulations. This severely restricts the ability of the formulator to develop cosmetically elegant formulations which are simultaneously chemically stable, optically clear, low in tack, low in residue and which have acceptable application aesthetics.
Clear or translucent antiperspirant gels (which have been dispensed from containers having the appearance of a stick) have been marketed, consisting of viscous, high internal phase emulsions. These gels exhibit some advantages over the aforementioned acetal-based clear sticks, in that the selection of formulation ingredients is less restricted (for example, water can be used), and often tack can be reduced significantly. But these emulsions suffer from the disadvantage of often requiring the use of ethanol to achieve desired aesthetics, which has negative environmental regulatory implications. Moreover, these emulsions are relatively expensive. Another disadvantage of these emulsions is the need for precise refractive index matching (for clarity), which gives processing difficulties. In connection with these emulsions, note U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,570 to Soldati and PCT (International Application) Publication No. WO92/05767, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,310 to Quasius discloses polyethylene mixed polyamines-polyformamides having a molecular weight from 1,800 to 200,000, in which 15-60% of the total nitrogen atoms are present in the formamide groups, these materials having utility in cosmetic compositions, particularly shampoos, rinses and other cosmetic compositions used for cleaning skin or hair and intended to be rinsed away with water. These materials exhibit improved foaming and slower precipitation in use, as well as less scumming of the shampoo and less deposition and build-up of solids on the hair and skin in use. This patent discloses that the cosmetic compositions in which these materials may be employed include shampoos, detergent or soap bars, bubble baths and bath oils, deodorants and antiperspirants, hair dressings, shaving preparation compositions and after-shave lotions, hairsprays and the like.
While disclosing use of specific polyethylene mixed polyamine-polyformamide materials in cosmetic compositions, these materials have an active effect in the cosmetic composition. This patent does not disclose that the materials can act as thickening agents, in forming solid cosmetic compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,379 to McAndrew, et al discloses fluid coating materials thickened with hydrophobically-modified amine functional polymers. These polymers are produced by hydrolyzing poly(ethenylformamide) to poly(vinylamine), and then hydrophobically modifying this polymer with an aldehyde such as dodecyl aldehyde. This patent discloses water-based fluid coating materials containing a thickening amount of a polyvinyl amine polymer which has a weight average molecular weight above 10.sup.5 and which has been modified by reaction with at least 0.2 mer percent of a linear monoaldehyde having 8 to 30 carbon atoms. These functional polymers act as associative thickeners in the fluid coating materials. This patent discloses that the fluid coating materials include within their scope a broad variety of products having the common feature that they must have sufficient body to be applied to a surface and be retained on that surface, while also being sufficiently fluid to form a smooth, coherent film which, in effect, forms a new surface on the old. This patent discloses that the most common coating material of this nature is a water-based latex paint, but this patent discloses that the coating materials include such diverse products as personal care formulations such as emollients and hair conditioning shampoos, pigmented printing inks, paper and textile coatings, and topical medicines.
While disclosing thickening agents for water-based fluid coating materials, the polymers in U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,379 require hydrophobic units which are critical to the gelling abilities of these polymers. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,379 does not disclose solid cosmetic compositions, much less thickening agents for solid compositions. In addition, this patent does not disclose thickening agents for compositions containing antiperspirant active aluminum-containing materials, which agents are stable in acidic environments occurring with various conventional antiperspirant active aluminum-containing materials.
Accordingly, there is still a need for providing a stable cosmetic composition (e.g., a liquid or gel or stick deodorant and/or antiperspirant composition), which can be clear; which provides good flexibility to the formulator and which can be simply and inexpensively manufactured, and which can be easily and effectively applied to the skin of a person.